Facebook founder in fresh bet on data start-up

A firm which invests part of the vast wealth of the founders of Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter is leading a €40m (£35m) fundraising for Collibra, a Brussels-based data start-up.

Sky News has learnt that Iconiq Ventures, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capital firms, has agreed to back a funding round for Collibra which values it at €325m (£289m).

The deal, which is expected to close shortly, will increase Iconiq’s stake in Collibra nearly a year after it first backed the company.
Iconiq’s clients include Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook; Jack Dorsey, his counterpart at Twitter; and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin, the Microsoft-owned professional networking app.

Image: Iconiq’s clients include Twitter’s founder, Jack Dorsey.
To date, it has taken stakes in companies such as Uber, the ride-hailing app which is the world’s most valuable tech start-up, and Honest Co, the consumer products firm founded by Jessica Alba, the Hollywood actress and entrepreneur.
Insiders said that Iconiq had agreed to back Collibra’s latest fundraising after the company had also received investment proposals from KKR and Insight Venture Partners, two rival firms.
The competition to lead the Collibra deal underlines the growing interest in the use of data by large companies.

The Belgian start-up specialises in helping clients with an activity called ‘data governance’, meaning the effectiveness with which they retain oversight of their data.
Collibra’s products are used by more than half of the world’s ten largest banks, as well as companies in industries such as healthcare and manufacturing.
“Data’s day has come. And with that, organizations have recognized that data can only be leveraged as a strategic resource to the extent it can be accessed and, most important, trusted,” Felix Van de Maele, co-founder and chief executive of Collibra, said when it announced its previous fundraising in January.

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“Collibra is the industry’s most advanced purpose-built data governance platform and our intent is to continue capturing mind and market share in our field.”
Collibra’s other backers include Dawn Capital and Index Ventures, two London-based investors in technology companies.